Jim Rice Inducted Into Baseball Hall Of Adequacy

COPPERSTON, NJ—Former outfielder Jim Rice, a lifetime .298 hitter who played more than 1,500 games in left field for the Red Sox, managed a gentle smile Sunday as he was enshrined in Major League Baseball's Hall of Adequacy alongside such journeymen as Bill Mazeroski and Rabbit Maranville. "It doesn't matter that this came in my last year of eligibility," Rice told the fans assembled among the cars in the HoA parking lot, some of whom came from as far as Boston for the ceremony. "What's important, if anything, is that I got here eventually, and that I can get out in time to beat the traffic." When asked about his reaction upon getting the nomination from the AP Sports Wire Service Writers of America, Rice said he felt "okay."